You guys!!!
I’ve been a terrible blogger. Gah!
Ya know, it’s kinda interesting though. This whole pandemic thang has totally shifted my life and my vibe. It’s a good thing, I think.
It’s forced all of us to slow down, reflect and it’s just changed up how all of us do life! Consequently, I’ve spent a lot more time doing things I really didn’t do before! I’ve actually enjoyed slowing down, spending time with loved ones and just spending more time doing things I enjoy!
I definitely enjoy blogging and it’s important to me, but it’s funny, since I’ve gotten off of an official schedule, I’m not as productive as I used to be! However, I’m sure enjoying life and I’m just enjoying living!
So, I apologize for going “dark” on here!
I will share a bunch of random pics from the things we’ve been up to lately!
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First off, I hope you all had a wonderful Fourth of July! We actually had a lot of fun. All of the big firework shows were cancelled in our area, so we (along with the rest of the world) decided to buy some fireworks and do our own at home.
Doing fireworks at home always brings me back to my childhood. I love it. To me, sitting on the grass on a warm summer night watching fireworks is the epitome of childhood and awesome memory making!
Kev bought a lot of really good fireworks and while we were setting ours off, we saw several other fireworks going off all around us! There were definitely A LOT more fireworks going off at home this year.
It sounded like a war zone and I kind of loved it.
Sadly, I didn’t take too many pictures on the fourth. I did happen to take some pictures of all of the food we had earlier though. We had a yummy BBQ with our family and my oldest son invited a whole ton of friends over to join us. It was fun and so nice to have a bunch of people in our home again!
Kev smoked a brisket all night and we also made some hot dogs and baked beans. I used this recipe for the baked beans and they turned out awesome! I didn’t use quite as much sugar as the recipe calls for and they turned out great. I doubled the recipe and I probably cut out about 1/3 of the sugar.
We also made potato salad (I used this recipe.) I used light Miracle Whip and added pickles. Kev loves potato salad and he thought it was yummy!
One of my son’s friends brought a pasta salad and we also had grapes, grilled pineapple and chips.
We also had veggies and dip (this is my fav veggie dip recipe,) but I used light sour cream and light mayo in it (no yogurt this time.)
I also made some festive jello, a trifle and my son’s friends brought some other treats.
It was a fun day, a fun night and a fun holiday!
I’m so grateful for holidays, summer and the Fourth of July!
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We’ve also still been getting together with my sister, her kids and my mom once a week. My sister proposed we do that throughout the summer and we’ve loved it so much! It gives us something to look forward to and some fun things to do amid the craziness.
We went to Pizza Pie Cafe for lunch and then went bowling afterward.
We had a great time, but I’m sad to say that the Pizza Pie Cafe in Bountiful is now permanently closed. 🙁
They are a “buffet all you can eat” style restaurant and I know this pandemic has been particularly hard on them. It makes me so sad to see businesses and people suffering. 🙁
A few weeks ago, we met my sister and her kids at the park and then headed over to my mom’s to play games. It was wonderful!
I’m sure grateful to have so many beautiful people in my life!
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Speaking of wonderful people, last week I met some of my high school friends for dinner….
A couple of them I hadn’t seen since high school! It was so nice to see them and we enjoying talking and laughing all night long.
It’s weird to watch myself get older, BTW. It’s kind of surreal. I still feel 25. My mom always says she’s grateful we all grow old together! Yes, it would suck to be the only one aging!
I’m so grateful to have these beautiful ladies in my life and I’m so grateful we’re all gettin’ old together!
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I’ve been so happy to be back at my gym again! Right now, I’m going to two classes a week and it feels so nice to be there.
Woot! There’s just somethin’ I love about going outside of my home to workout, being surrounded by other people and to be told by an instructor what to do! The people around me help to keep me motivated and it’s nice to just listen to an instructor so I don’t have to think!
I’m super stoked to be able to go to classes once again. I went to a Pop Pilates class last night and it was wonderful! Exercise, fun, and stress relief all mixed in one!
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Okay, the last thing I will share is lots of good food! Since this pandemic started, Kev and I have enjoyed cooking a lot of yummy food on Sundays. He usually smokes some kind of meat and I figure out the sides.
Here are a couple things we’ve been loving lately….
Pulled pork sandwiches (I had an open faced one) topped with coleslaw (I used this recipe) and smoked baked potatoes topped with butter, sour cream, cheese and bacon on the side!
Oh my goodness, those baked potatoes are so darn good! We wash them and then brush them with jalapeno infused oil and then roll them in freshly ground pink Himalayan salt. Then Kev smokes them for 45 minutes to an hour. They are our favorite thing!!!
So good!
We also enjoyed this yummy dinner recently….
This was actually our Father’s Day dinner. I didn’t want Kev to have to cook on Father’s Day, but he said he wanted to. I was secretly happy he did. 😉
He found a yummy recipe for some kind of jalapeno chicken. It was super fancy. He stuffed chicken breasts with a jalapeno/cream cheese/cheese and spices type mixture and then smoked them. They were amazing!
We made smoked baked potatoes again, we smoked some mixed veggies (super bomb) and I made baked some sourdough bread (from Costco) in the oven.
Yummy meal!
Oh, and here’s a pic of Kev “smoking” on Father’s Day, lol….
I’m so grateful he knows how to smoke stuff and I’m grateful we get to enjoy the goodness!
Here’s another super basic meal I made for dinner the other night….
Tacos! Yes, I know it’s not super exciting, but I love tacos so much because they are quick and easy to make, everyone loves them and they can be made healthy!
We love these raw tortillas (available at Costco or Walmart) so much! The ingredient list is very simple and they are super tasty!
We top ours with refried beans, ground turkey taco meat, lettuce, tomatoes, pico de gallo, cheese and sour cream. Yum.
I also gotta share that it’s starting to be garden harvest season! Yipee!
Kev is a wonderful gardener and I’m so happy ’bout that. I know nuthin’ about gardening except what I’ve learned from watching him.
I’ve loved being able to go out into my backyard and cut fresh lettuce for my protein shakes!
I think this is green leaf lettuce….
I love it! He also brought in a ton of cherry tomatoes, peas, two green peppers and a zucchini tonight. Super yay!
I also just want to randomly mention that some of these meals I shared aren’t 100% perfectly healthy. I gotta tell ya, I’ve learned you don’t have to eat 100% perfectly healthy all the time, in fact you can have a little bit of crappy, indulgent food every day, IMO.
The key is to stay mindful and accountable. DO NOT eat crappy food all day long! But it’s perfectly fine (and helps to keep you sane) to add a little cheese, bacon, sour cream, coleslaw, etc. to things. It’s just important to be aware of portion sizes and then balance out those food choices throughout the day!
For example, I chose to have just one half of a bun on my pulled pork sandwich. Also, I love Intermittent Fasting so much! Like so much! It’s a game changer for me! I won’t go on and on about it here, but I’ll just say that most days I don’t break my fast until 1:00 or 2:00 in the afternoon. This allows me to eat larger meals and to have a few indulgences here and there and still stay on track. I love it!
Our Sunday dinners are larger than our typical dinners, so I keep the rest of the day light. It’s just all about good ol’ common sense, balance, accountability and consistency!
Sooooo, don’t be afraid of indulging a little and there…..just keep your head in the game and make it work for you!
Well, that’s all I’m gonna say tonight. I cannot believe it took me this long to update the blog!!! Sorry ’bout that. I’m going to be a better blogger going forward, lol.
I hope you are all healthy and happy. I love you all so much!!! xoxo
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